


Lift Me Up, Give Me Strength To Press On

by Binouchetruc



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Dialogue, Comfort, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hades Needs a Hug, Hurt Hades, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Missing Scene, POV Hecate, Protective Hera, Unhealthy Relationships, Worried Cerberus, and he got one, protective hecate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25911160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Binouchetruc/pseuds/Binouchetruc
Summary: Hecate caught Minthe’s hand before she could do… well, whatever she was going to do to him next, as her hand’s mark was still clearly visible on her boss’ face. Perhaps she caught it a bit harsher than necessary, was holding it a tad too tightly. At the moment, she didn’t care. She looked pissed off.No.She was definitely pissed off.ORHecate's POV of episodes 76-77 + a missing scene. Hurt, comfort... you know the deal.
Relationships: Cerberus & Hades (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Hades & Hecate (Lore Olympus), Hades & Hera (Lore Olympus), Hades/Minthe (Lore Olympus), Hecate & Hera (Lore Olympus), but more hinted than anything
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	Lift Me Up, Give Me Strength To Press On

**Author's Note:**

> Hoiii!  
> It's like, the first time I wrote for this fandom? So sorry if the folks look a bit OOC, etc  
> I love my blue boi and had to give him some comfort, and lord only knows how I love friends relationships like Hecate and Hades' one owo  
> Oh and, same thing as the mentioned episodes, warning for (theme of) domestic abuse  
> So hopefully, it won't be too bad, thanks for reading!  
> Don't be scared to leave feedback, it would be very much appreciated! :)  
> Btw, the title is some lyrics from America by Imagine Dragons

Clack, Clack, Clack, Clack, Clack….

Hecate stopped in front of Minthe’s desk. Which was empty of his owner. A feeling of apprehension settled in her, some kind of foreboding. There was literally no reason for that as Minthe could be on her break anywhere in the towers. Still, she couldn’t help but feel that she would find the nymph with who she was really looking for. Again, nothing particularly wrong in that. It was normal to find an employee talking to their boss.

The problem was that said boss had business somewhere else to attend, and that said employee was probably there for something else than work talk. Now, it was Hecate’s job to find Hades and remind him he still had a few meetings today that he couldn’t miss. Still, it didn’t explain that bad feeling of hers.

Obviously, staying there while wondering about it wouldn’t actually help in any way, so she managed to find the location he was, or at least the vicinity in which she should be able to find him, by checking his schedule on Minthe’s computer. Which was already open to that. Huh. To tower three it was, then.

Hecate wasted no time. She wasn’t running, obviously, but it wasn’t a slow pace either. It did slow down when she heard a voice calling out to her.

“Hecate! Wait!”

With this new pace, it didn’t take too long before Tisiphone was able to catch up with her.

“Tisiphone?” she asked. There was no need to say more, the other knew it meant the goddess was busy, the tone clearly implying that if it wasn’t important, it should wait.

“It won’t be long- but it’s important. It’s about next week’s meeting.”

Oh. Yes, it was. They talked as they walked. Hecate could almost have forgotten why she was heading the way she was with the business talk they had. It was cut short though, as they approached a hallway junction.

A loud ‘smack’, reverberating through the corridors.

They both stopped talking at the same time, looking at each other. They hurried down the rest of the way. A voice, easily recognizable, was growing stronger as they approached.

“-E SPITTING IMAGE OF CRONUS!”

No.

“YOU HAVE HIS EYES.”

Not that.

“HIS HANDS.”

Minthe.

“HIS SKIN.”

They were straight ahead, in the hall. She rushed to them. Her.

“WHO WOULD WANT TO BE WITH SOMEONE WHO RESEMBLES THE GREATEST TYRANT WE'VE EVER KNOWN?”

Hecate caught Minthe’s hand before she could do… well, whatever she was going to do to him next, as her hand’s mark was still clearly visible on her boss’ face. Perhaps she caught it a bit harsher than necessary, was holding it a tad too tightly. At the moment, she didn’t care. She looked pissed off. 

No. 

She was definitely pissed off.

She placed herself between Minthe and Hades, slowly moving the former away from her boss as she held her shoulders.

“Enough. Go home.”

Her tone clearly left no place to debate, but still, Minthe let out a “But-”

Her grasp tightened slightly. At the same time, Tisiphone arrived. Finally having caught up, she was now standing behind Minthe. Right, self-control.

“You're suspended until further notice,” she told the nymph as she let her go. Smart, the erinye knew it was her time to act and took care of her, leading Minthe away despite her protests.

“But, w-wait, I just want to talk to him!” You should have done this, instead of yelling at him, Hecate thought, but she stayed silent. Cold. “I need- I need to apologize!”

If a look could kill (and if they weren’t already in the Underworld), Minthe would be gone. Vanished. Ashes.

Instead, she was led away, as Tisiphone answered, “Not today.”

Indeed. Not today. If the next apologies would sound like these too, then, not ever.

With one problem off her shoulders, she turned back to Hades. Who had tears rolling down his cheeks. His eyes, blank.

Minthe. You fucked up so, so bad.

With a couple of quick, long strides, she approached him. He didn’t even react.

Gently, she cupped his head with her two hands, sweeping the tears away with her thumbs. As soon as they were gone, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, being on her tiptoe to achieve so. His face found the crook of her neck as she did, but she was pretty sure it was an automatic response and not a conscious act. Nothing else moved.

She couldn’t say exactly how long they stayed like that, but it was enough to get her coat’s shoulder wet. Clothes could always be changed, anyway. The look in his eyes, though… well, it would need more work. She was the one to pull away. She could barely hear him breathe. If she hadn’t been close enough to feel the little puff of hair that was barely but still able to slightly move her hair, she could have missed it. No sound, no movement.

Fortunately for her, grasping his wrist gently was enough to make him follow. She didn’t miss the flinch when her hand first came in contact with his skin. She knew he didn’t mean it, that he wasn’t scared of her or anything. Each reaction still wasn’t coming from him but were rather automatic, defensive reflexes.

Yes, what Minthe had done was an attack. Hecate could bet her life on that the physical part of it had not been the major part of the trigger of this… state. She had seen him be slapped before, for equally bad reasons, but also good ones (she must have done it perhaps once or twice? She really needed a high level of stupidity to do so, and Hades reached it way, way less often than his brothers, fortunately for her), and those two kinds of cases never had such effects. 

Obviously, she wasn’t saying that it helped everything, but oh great would it have been if Minthe had settled for this only instead of crushing all the confidence he had been able to build against his biggest fear (which wasn’t really much in the beginning, she did notice those dark rings making more or less regular appearances, after all) in barely a few harsh, horrible sentences who were thrown in a fit of rage that was probably unnecessary either way...

ANYWAY, what's done cannot be undone, right?

Leading him through hallways as what she knew was the fastest way to Hades’ office, she couldn’t help but feel relieved they were all empty. A feeling, maybe, but there was something that told her that perhaps a certain erinye could enjoy a little pay rise sooner rather than later, who knew. Smart people did get those, generally.

When the two gods finally arrived at their destination, Hecate couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. She placed him on one of the couches like he was some kind of rag doll. Unsurprisingly, he hadn’t muttered a single word all the way there, and he remained silent still.

Now, well… it was pretty clear he was in no state to attend today’s meetings. Hopefully, he would awake while she busied herself with other matters, or… well, she would see once she would be there. Tablet in hands and phone between ear and shoulder, she began cancelling meetings and such for the day. Fortunately, this week wasn’t as busy as the next one would be, so they should be able to go over this day’s schedule in one or two days.

Once she was done, she looked back at Hades, who wasn’t alone anymore but rather huddled by a certain black dog, who looked rather distressed at his master’s unresponsiveness.

“Don’t you have gates to keep?” she asked him, but it wasn’t really serious. It was normal to be at your best friend’s side when he felt unwell. If she could stay, she would. The thing was that when Hades was out of the game, she was the one who took the wheel to be sure they wouldn’t crash.

So she took out her phone again, scrolling through her contact list to find someone to call.

Find someone to call.

Find... someone to… call.

…

It was harder than how she first thought and she couldn’t help but feel a bit sad about it. The list was fairly short, all in all:

1\. She couldn’t call herself, obviously. 

2\. She didn’t even spare a single glance at Minthe’s number, that one had done enough damage in one day, so there was no need for her to make more.

3\. Persephone. It was already enough complicated as it was, no need to bring her in there right now.

4\. & 5\. were his brothers. They did care about him despite them being… well, them. Hecate knew that he wouldn’t want her to call them, though. Whatever his reasons, if he wouldn’t want her, well it meant it probably wouldn’t help. Though she had gone in the past against some of his decisions, it happened really, really rarely and it had always been business matters. If those did end well, she couldn’t say it would be the same for this time.

And finally, 

6\. Hera. It was her last chance. No, he probably wouldn’t be thrilled once he awoke, she knew. Hecate didn’t want to leave him alone though, as she didn’t how he would be when he would awake. Also, having someone at hand that care is always good when something like… this happened. She couldn’t imagine the day going worst, and who knew, maybe the golden goddess would be able to pull out something that would really help him.

A quick message sent, ‘Code Blue’, and back to work, she was, as she awaited Hera’s arrival. Cerberus was now laying on Hades’ chest, not any less worried than before. She took another moment to be saddened that two-thirds of his friends who weren’t family related were already in the room. Having ‘King of the Underworld’ and ‘Son of Cronus’ labels stick on his forehead by others wasn’t really helping either, despite all his attempts to get rid of the last one. The former wasn’t exactly bad in every way, but it was hard for some to picture themselves as being friends-friends with their boss. Respect, fear or inferiority? Sure. Friendship? Well… Hecate was glad to have passed over that herself in any case.

Well, she had analyzed her boss long enough for one day, so she dived back into work on her tablet until a knock disrupted her focus, sometime later.

Taking a breath, she walked towards the door and opened it, expecting the first question Hera shot at her when she not-quite-but-close-enough stormed into the room.

“Where is that pest now?” the golden goddess spat.

“You know that he won’t let you hurt her, right?” Hecate answered just as quickly, keeping herself from sighing. Between the two goddesses, she needed to be the one to keep a cool head.

“Obviously. Still worth asking, just in case. I wouldn’t miss the opportunity.” Hera answered with a smile, but it looked pained. She was already eyeing the blue guy laid on one of the couches. Cerberus had raised his head and was looking at the newcomer. He quickly recognized who it was and lowered back his head on Hades’ chest.

“I sent her home. Suspended… for now.” she added, hoping it would be enough for the golden goddess in the meantime. Not that she had a word in it anyway, Minthe was an Underworld Corp. employee and as it happened at work, well… it just added another layer to the problem. It would be dealt with when it would be dealt with.

“Alright. Unless he gives me the go-ahead, no whatever you think I’m planning right now. Which, by the way, would be worst than what you can imagine coming from me.” Hecate gave her an unimpressed look, though inside she had no doubt about it. Then, Hera continued, “Are you at least going to tell me what happened? He hadn’t fallen into that bad of a state since-”

“Since decades, yes. Or that we know of. I can only tell what I’ve been there for, which he isn’t always sharing with me. Today? She slapped and yelled at him. Bad things.”

Hera looked at her, first a bit bewildered, as it wasn’t the first time the nymph would be angry, nothing unusual there. Then, shocked, at what it would have taken her to yell to put him in that state. She didn’t know exactly what Minthe had said yet. There were a few possibilities, and none were really better than the others. Obviously, the second feeling led to the third rapidly. Anger. It was easy to read it in her face but even easier to see it through her hands, who were now clenched. 

“Don’t push it.” Hecate told her, with an unsaid please, “He’ll tell you if he feels like it.”

“I know that.”

“I know that you know. Just take it... as a reminder.”

Did she think Hera would purposefully push him to give her answers, making him do something he didn’t want to? No. Did she know the golden goddess sometimes took her anger on the wrong person? Yes. Hera already looked more controlled after that reminder. Aware of what Hecate had done, or at least to a certain level. Yeah, he would be in good hands. She walked towards the door as she told her one last thing.

“Well, I gotta leave now. I cancelled his whole day, so do feel free to take him out of here. Out of the Underworld, even. A bit of a scenery change,” she started, before adding with a huff, “It’s not like he’d do it himself.”

Hera looked at her, smirking. “I think I already got an idea. And a plan.”

The goddess nodded, opening the door to leave. Cerberus got up at the same time, following her out the room. Perhaps it was the sight of his friend unwell while he couldn’t do anything that pained him more than anything.

Well, they had something in common.


End file.
